From: Ross Webster [mailto:r   webster@ec.rr.com   ]
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 8:09 AM

The open attack on Veterans Health Care

They need the money they spend on you for other programs for people who produce nothing but votes to keep their boss in office. This is a disgusting move to all those who dedicated our adult lives to the defense of our country.

Armand C. Hale

Obama has placed a priority on cutting “Tri Care for Life” out of the Congressional budget. It’s the health care program for military vets past and present. This is his means to provide funding for things he promised during the campaign, regardless of who gets the shaft. So much for "universal healthcare" for all Americans, eh?

On page 189 of the Congressional Budget Office report (CBO) there is a strong recommendation to eliminate this program. In Chapter 9, page 173, option 95, the titled is; “Increase Health Care Costs Sharing for Family Members of Active Duty Military Personnel”.

You heard me clearly. Family members of active duty military personnel will have to pay out.

This is exactly what CBO has in store for active duty and military retirees using Tri Care for Life (TFL) system. This source is directly from the CBO & OMB. It’s not something that I have dreamed up. They are telling you exactly what they are going to do with your benefits.

People always look for the channel of least resistance when it comes to cutting money out of the Federal and DOD budget. Your medical benefits are the prime target.

These people can be stupid. The Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) need to get patients back, to keep their doctors busy, & the hospitals from going to a clinic status. These people from CBO would employ a means to keep retirees from using MTF facilities by charging them fees for services.

How STUPID can you be?

To all Obama lovers, change is coming. The TFL option from CBO will not go away.

They need the money they spend on you for other programs for people who produce nothing but votes to keep their boss in office.

The bean-counters´ who, by and large, wouldn´t know and probably never will know genuine unselfish service to our country are solely motivated by crunching numbers so that those numbers will reflect favorably on their bosses and their boss´s causes. They have no thought to the havoc they would cause in many cases the loss of any amount of TFL benefits. It would be an insurmountable hardship for others and to some it would truly be a death sentence.

This is a disgusting move to all those who dedicated our adult lives to the defense of our country.

Here is quote from a young airman after 7 yrs of military service;“My mother is currently on Tri-Care for Life (TFL) due to the fact that my father, a 22 year decease Army retiree opted for it when he got out. She does work; having additional employer provided health care plan. What happens when she retires? Under this new plan for TFL with no regularly income, she would be forced to go on Medicaid, plain and simple.

To take away a benefit that was ERANED by our vets after 20+ years of defending our country is UNAMERICAN! Let us not forget that these veterans had families that stood by them during this time. The family has been cared for and treated at the SAME Military Treatment Facility as the vet. If this is removed, what is the next VA Benefits loss?

Do we take away from those who have suffered loss of a limb? Be forced to live with a condition that developed while serving in the military? Take a close look at this proposed plan and then look at yourself in the mirror.

Ask yourself is this how you honor those that have fought, bleed, and died for your freedom? Is it?” -B.J. MCLURE-

Here it is folks. If you sit around and do nothing about it, as they bring these options forward this coming year you will lose one of the best healthcare benefits that the eligible retired military members have.

I´m going to make one more statement to all of you younger people out there who are not yet eligible for Tri-care for Life. HEALTH CARE WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME THE DOMINATING FACTOR IN YOUR LIFE.

Remember that it will impact you big time with the utmost in cruelty unless you are fortunate enough to die from a heart attack or get run over by a truck. If you do nothing, this is what you will get.

The way to secure your benefits is to write to your members of Congress and to keep writing and calling over and over again.

ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH!! Keep repeating the above statement until you are blue in the face.

The service organizations are aware of this and will put up a fight. They can´t do it by themselves. They need your help. I hope this makes it clear as to what you can expect if you do nothing.

Contact your elected officials, talk radio, alternative news media and register your strong opposition to the elimination of this program.

Source materiel:   Bob Clements, Brigadier General, USAF, (Ret)
Fred Langston, President 2008, San Diego Chapter 128, The Retired Enlisted Association (TREA)

Armand Christopher Hale is retired as a master sergeant in the United States Air Force, where he served 23 years and was stationed in Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. He has a degree in logistics management and plans to write a book about his service in Qatar.